Allston Dry Cleaners

I’d been patronizing the same dry-​cleaner since September 2006, when I moved into the neighborhood. I didn’t shop around or try the other two establishments near me but simply looked no further than the guy down the block. Even though he long ago fell out of my favor, I continued giving him my custom out of laziness and guilt. After all, breaking up with anyone is difficult, and this includes the hard-​working but not very good dry-​cleaner whose shop you pass each day on the way home from work and twice on weekends. How do you continue waving at someone you’ve known for years, even though you no longer give him your business. Or do you just look straight ahead, pretending he never existed? In late June, the stars aligned when my dry-​cleaner told me he was closing his shop for the summer to take a holiday in his native land. All I could think was, «WoooHoooo! Now I can find someone better without feeling bad about depriving this nice man of his livelihood.» Liberated from what had clearly become an unhealthy relationship on my part, I settled on Allston Dry Cleaners, the next closest dry-​cleaner to me.
I’ve been a customer for about two months now and I’m mostly satisfied. The owner is distantly cordial in an old-​time Boston «state your business and get out» kind of way. That’s fine with me: I’m not looking for friends and without a personal relationship, it will be much easier to go someplace else when the time comes. Allston Dry Cleaners also seems to have a better attention to detail, although I’ve yet to see how they press a suit. Oddly, the concept of «light starch» seems to elude whatever laundry does my shirts. I end up either with shirts stiff as boards or what I’m certain is no starch at all. So far, however, that’s my only complaint and for now, I’ll try to live with it.
Business hours are convenient and unlike my now ex-​dry-​cleaner, Allston Dry Cleaners is open until seven on weekdays so I can pick up my stuff on the way home instead of waiting until the weekend. The prices are OK, I guess, although I still can’t believe that the going rate for dry-​cleaning a pair of pants in the Boston area is between five and six dollars. A dollar-​seventy-​five to launder a shirt and put it on a hanger is also on the high side but I’ve seen it as high as two-​and-​a-​quarter in some places. Whatever – it beats spending Saturday morning washing and ironing.
So I have a new dry-​cleaner. Now I just have to find a route that doesn’t take me past my ex’s shop and allows me to avoid any confrontation and undeserved guilt about finding someone I like better. How do you have the «it’s not you but me» conversation with the dry-​cleaner?